Common Fisheries Policy

What is the Common Fisheries Policy?

The European Union's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was adopted in 1983, with the objective of ensuring that declining fish stocks are exploited responsibly - protecting the environment and the interests of the fishing industry and consumers.

The CFP imposes a regime of equal access for vessels from all member states in the EU's exclusive fishing zone, 200 nautical miles from its coastline. Within this zone, member states have a 12-mile zone around their own coastlines within which their own fishing vessels have exclusive rights.

Atlantic and North Sea fish stocks are sustained through a system of Total Allowable Catches (TACs), which are divided into national Quotas. However, these systems are notoriously difficult to enforce.

The CFP also includes a market organisation for the control of prices, marketing arrangements and external trade policy.


Background

The roots of the CFP lie in the original EU Treaties signed in 1957, which envisaged a common policy for fisheries.

The basic principle of the earliest common agreement on fisheries policy, reached in 1970, was that community fishermen should have equal access to member states' water sources. As a natural and mobile resource, fish were deemed to be the common property of all EU member states. In 1976, in line with international agreements, exclusive fishing grounds were extended from 12 to 200 miles around the EU's coast, and it was also decided that the Community was best placed to manage access to fisheries. Seven years of negotiations followed before the CFP was eventually agreed.

The CFP has since been reformed twice, in 1992 and 2002. In both instances, reforms aimed to preserve declining fish stocks. The late 1980s saw the fishing industry becoming a victim of its own success: high prices led the industry to over-invest, leading to overfishing. Some claimed this was exacerbated by systems of EU grants to the fishing industry, which were seen as a good way to promote regional development.

The 2002 review saw grants for the construction of new boats scrapped completely and premiums increased for decommissioning existing vessels, along with the adoption of recovery plans for specific threatened species and management plans for other stocks.

In addition, a Compliance Scoreboard was to be published for member states and a code of conduct for responsible fishing to be developed. The new CFP came into force on January 1 2003.


Controversies

The CFP is deeply unpopular within the fishing community, and to date it has failed to preserve fish stocks.

The reviews of 1992 and 2002 have seen increasingly stringent Quotas for UK fishing, focused primarily on the most depleted stocks. The state of cod stocks in the Irish and North Sea are particularly worrying, having been reduced almost to unsustainable levels.

Although other factors influencing the falling fish populations are not well-understood, the extinction of local cod populations by over-fishing has already been seen off parts of Canada. Debate continues about whether there should be an outright ban in certain areas.

The latest CFP review has addressed many environmentalists's concerns - its support for an overly large EU fishing fleet, harmful subsidies and a lack of focus on ecosystem management - but its effectiveness remains to be seen.

The Scottish National Party wants withdrawal from the CFP altogether and accused the Government of abandoning Scottish interests in the 2002 negotiations. In early 2004, the Conservatives also committed to a policy of withdrawal.

Enforcement of the CFP is also a source of controversy. The use of Quotas has been widely criticised, allegedly leading to illegal (unreported) landings of 'blackfish'.

'Quota Hopping' has also received considerable attention: this practice involves one member state's Quota being 'used up' by vessels sailing under flags of convenience, flagged to the Quota's member state but owned by companies from another member state.

One particularly controversial dispute concerned the operation and legality of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 part II, which resulted in 95 Spanish vessels losing their UK fishing licences. The case, better known as the Factortame dispute, resulted in protracted litigation in the British and EU courts and the EU making a groundbreaking declaration of EU legal primacy - thus revising the traditional notion of legal sovereignty in the UK.

It was also found that some vessels were using illegally small nets, thereby catching and killing juvenile fish, seriously undermining the resilience of populations.


Statistics

In 2001, 738 thousand tonnes of sea fish were landed into the UK and abroad by the UK fleet, with a total value of £574 million

In addition, the UK imported £1,432 million of fish. The UK exported fish and fish products to the value of £700 million

The UK has a large fish processing industry of around 550 businesses employing some 22,000 people
Statistics 1 to 3: (Source: DEFRA, 2004)


Quotes

"The only real solution is to scrap this policy and reclaim control over our own fishing waters."

Alex Salmond MP, SNP Westminster leader, November 2003

"Sea fish are a natural, renewable and mobile resource whose reproduction and movements are beyond our control. Fish resources are part of our common heritage. Healthy stocks can sustain a reasonable rate of fishing but they need a healthy marine environment. Fisheries and aquaculture activities must be regulated through international cooperation to allow for the continuous renewal of stocks and the protection of marine ecosystems."

European Commission

"They are not among those of us who believe that the common fisheries policy is so fundamentally flawed that we should dispense with it altogether. If the hon. Gentleman believes that a communal policy is necessary, he should talk to the fishermen of Iceland or Norway. If he spoke to Norwegian fishermen, he would be assured that fishing was one of the reasons why every one of them voted in the referendum against entry into the European Union."

Sir Richard Body MP, to Liberal Democrat MP David Heath in the House of Commons, June 9 1998